ANTH 3435: Museum Anthropology
A Brooklyn College OER Project Course site for Prof. Kelly Britt, Spring 2025
ANTH 3435: Museum Anthropology
A Brooklyn College OER Project Course site for Prof. Kelly Britt, Spring 2025
image for schedule

Schedule with Links

Week 1: Introduction to Museum Anthropology

1/28 Introductions, Overview, and Themes for Semester

Required Readings: NONE
Visit:

Kilts, Kathleen Thompson. “Misunderstandings between Repatriation and Reparations.” National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) (blog), May 13, 2022. https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-news/misunderstandings-between-repatriation-and-reparations/. [Open Website]
Varela, Sandra Lopez. “Museums and the Restitution of Cultural Property.” Anthropology News, April 28, 2020. https://www.anthropology-news.org/articles/museums-and-the-restitution-of-cultural-property/. [Open Magazine]

Takeaways:What is expected of students from the class?What are the assignments?How do you define Repatriation?How do you define Reparation?How do you define Restitution?How does these intersect with museums?

Activities: Review Syllabus. Break into Groups. Introduction ice breaker

1/30: Defining Museums

Required Readings:

Alpers, Svetlana. “The Museum as a Way of Seeing.” In Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display, edited by Ivan Karp and Steven Lavine, 25–32. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. Click here to view with password. (8 pages)

Ng, Wendy and J’net AyAyQwaYakSheelth. “Decolonize and Indigenize: A Reflective Dialogue.” Viewfinder: Reflecting on Museum Education (blog), June 28, 2018. https://medium.com/viewfinder-reflecting-on-museum-education/decolonize-and-indigenize-a-reflective-dialogue-3de78fa76442. [Open Website]

Visit/Skim: DTP: Decolonize This Place: http://www.decolonizethisplace.org/ [Open Website]

Takeaways: How do we define a museum? What kind of museums are there? What is an Anthropology Museum? What is Museum Anthropology?

Activities: Break into Groups and discuss how YOU define a museum

Week 2

2/4: Museums of Art Versus Museums of Culture

Required Readings:

Duncan, Carol. “Art Museums and the Ritual of Citizenship.” In Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display, edited by Ivan Karp and Steven Lavine, 88–103. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. Click here to view with password. (15 pages)
Danto, Arthur. 1988. “Artifact and Art.” In Art/Artifact, edited by Danto, Arthur et al, 18-32. New York, NY: Center for African Art. (14 pages) Click here to view with password.

Takeaways: How would you define art? How would you define an artifact? What makes them different? What makes them similar?

Activities: Watch The Mummy Who Would be King-YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxEFOGvaKx4 (52.30 minutes) [Open Video]

2/6: Museums of Art Versus Museums of Culture, Cont.

Required Readings:

Wilson, Fred and Howard Halle. 1993. “Mining the Museum.” Grand Street 44:151-172. (21 pages). http://www.jstor.org/stable/25007622 [Online in BC Library]
Visit:

Met Exhibition to Explore How Black Artists Have Engaged with Ancient Egypt Over the Last 150 Years—The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2024, November 12). [Museum]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/press-releases/flight-into-egypt [Open Website]
Wilson, F. (2024, November 22). Fred Wilson’s Memories of Egypt—The Metropolitan Museum of Art [Museum]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/fred-wilsons-memories-of-egypt [Open Website]

Takeaways:

How does Fred Wilson take objects of history and make statements of social justice in the present?Would you consider Fred’s work art or anthropology?

Activities:

ON OWN-MET Field Trip to see Fred Wilson’s Memories of Egypt BEFORE CLASS

Week 3

2/11: Histories of Display

Cabinets of Curiosity, World’s Fairs & Early Ethnographic Museums

Required Readings:

Hinsley, Curtis. 1991. “The World as Marketplace: Commodification of the Exotic at the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893.” In Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Display, edited by Ivan Karp and Steven D. Lavine, 344-365. London: Smithsonian Press. (21 pages) Click here to view with password.

Graff, Rebecca S. 2012. “Dream City, Plaster City: Worlds’ Fairs and the Gilding of American Material Culture.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 16, no. 4: 696–716. (20 pages)  http://www.jstor.org/stable/23355814 [Online in BC Library]

Takeaways:

How did the World Fairs bring exhibition to the masses? What was World Fairs’ impact on museums and exhibition?

Activities: Dr. Rebecca Graff Zoom In Prep for activity on Thursday

2/13: Histories of Display, cont.

Required Readings:

Chapman, William Ryan. 1985. “Arranging Ethnology: A.H.L.F. Pitt Rivers and Typological Tradition. “ In Objects and Others, edited by George W. Stocking, 15-48. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. (33 pages) http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/brooklyn-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3445023 [Online in BC Library]

Takeaways: What is a Cabinet of Curiosity?How did they influence what and how objects are displayed?

Activities: Build your own Cabinet of Curiosity

Week 4

2/18: NO CLASS

Conversion Day-Follow Monday Schedule

2/20: Overview of Class Project

Required Readings:

42nd Street | How to Make Your Own Zine |. (n.d.). Retrieved January 31, 2025, from https://www.42ndstreet.org.uk/support/read/how-to-make-your-own-zine [Open Website]
Nayeri, Farah. (2023, August 11). A ‘Digital Heist’ Recaptures the Rosetta Stone. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/11/arts/looty-rosetta-stone-benin-bronzes.html [View with free NYTimes account from BC]

Takeaways:What is a zine?How do you make one?How can storytelling be a form of repatriation, reparation, or restitution?

Activities: Learn more about zine making and library’s resources
Repatriation

Week 5

2/25: Indigenous Museums from Indigenous Perspectives and NAGPRA

Required Reading:

Lonetree, Amy. 2012. Chapter 3: “Exhibiting Native America at the National Museum of the American Indian.” In Decolonizing Museums. pp. 81-123.Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. (43 pages). http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/brooklyn-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1076066. [Online in BC Library]
Watkins, Joe. (2004). Becoming American or Becoming Indian?: NAGPRA, Kennewick and Cultural Affiliation. Journal of Social Archaeology, 4(1), 60–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469605304039850 [Open Journal]

Atalay, Sonya, Shannon, J., & Swogger, J. G. (2017). Journeys to Complete the Work. NAGPRA Comics 1. University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/books/s7526d43c [Open Website]

Takeaways:What is NAGPRA?Why is this law so important? And controversial?Can we decolonize museums?

Activities: Nekole Alligood, Delaware Nation Zoom In

2/27: Indigenous Museums, cont.

Required Reading:

Atleo, E. Richard(1991). Policy Development for Museums: A First Nations Perspective. In D. Jensen & C. Brooks (Eds.), In celebration of our survival: The first nations of British Columbia (pp. 48–61). UBC Press. Click here to view with password. (13 pages)
Gilgan, Elizabeth. (2001). Ch. 9 Looting and the Market for Maya Objects. A Belizean Perspective. In N. Brodie, J. Doole, & C. Renfrew (Eds.), Trade in illicit antiquities: The destruction of the world’s archaeological heritage (pp. 73–87). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research ; David Brown [distributor]. (15 pages) https://archive.org/details/tradeinillicitan0000unse/page/n9/mode/1up
[Available at Internet Archive: borrow with free account.]
Kreps, Christina F. (2005). Indigenous curation as intangible cultural heritage: Thoughts on the relevance of the 2003 UNESCO convention. Theorizing Cultural Heritage, 1(2), 1–8. https://folklife.si.edu/resources/center/cultural_policy/pdf/ChristinaKrepsfellow.pdf. (8 pages) [Open Website]

Takeaways: How has collection policy evolved over time? What influenced the changes? What are next steps?

Activities: NMAI Field Trip

Week 6

3/4: Collecting Culture

Required Readings:

Jacknis, Ira. 1985. “Franz Boas and Exhibits: On the Limitations of the Museum Method in Anthropology,” In Objects and Others: Essays on Museums and Material Culture, edited by George W. Stocking, 75-111. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. (36 pages) https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/brooklyn-ebooks/reader.action?docID=3445023&ppg=84. [Online in BC Library]
Jacknis, Ira. 2004. “’A Magic Place’: The Northwest Coast Indian Hall at the American Museum of Natural History.” In Coming to Shore: Northwest Coast Ethnology, Traditions, and Visions, edited by Marie Mauzé, Michael E. Harkin, and Sergei Kan, 221-250. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. (29 pages) https://archive.org/details/comingtoshorenor0000nort. [Available at Internet Archive: borrow with free account] or click here to view with password.

Takeaways: What is the “museum method”? How did Boas influence exhibition during the Museum Period? What are the limitations of the methods used? How has the NW Coast Hall changed over time? Is the NW Coast Hall decolonized?

Activities: AMNH Field Trip (1 hour commute each way)

3/6: NO CLASS

Conversion Day-Follow Wednesday Schedule

Week 7

3/11: Materializing Culture: Museums, Objects, and Display

Talk by Emory University Professor Ruby Lal On “Public and History in Public History.” (At Woody Tanger Auditorium)

Recommended Readings: TBA

Takeaways: Create 1 question that could be asked of the speaker, bring with you to ask during talk.

Activities: Exhibit Review 1 Due

Meet at Woody Tanger Auditorium (in library) during class time

3/13: Materializing Culture, Cont.

Required Readings:

Kopytoff, Igor 1986. “Cultural Biography of Things: Commodification as Process” In The Social Lives of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, edited by Arjun Appadurai, 64-91. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (27 pages) https://hdl-handle-net.brooklyn.ezproxy.cuny.edu/2027/heb32141.0001.001. [Online in BC Library]
Kurin, Richard 1997. “Making a Museum Object.” In Reflections of a Culture Broker: A View from the Smithsonian. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press (57-70) (13 pages). Click here to view with password.

Extra Readings (if interested in subject):

Gurian, Elaine Heumann. 1999. “What is the Object of this Exercise? A Meandering Exploration of the Many Meanings of Objects in Museums.” Daedalus. 128(3):163-183. (20 pages) https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A56072146/LitRC?sid=summon&u=cuny_broo39667. [Online in BC Library]
Takeaways: Do objects have agency? How do we commoditize objects in museums? How many meanings do objects have? Who decides what object and what meaning is put on display?Activities:

Review: Callimachi, R. (2024, December 31). One Set of China. Five Generations. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/12/31/realestate/fine-china-dumulong-family.html [View with NYTimes account from BC]

In Class in Groups-Object Biographies-bring in an inherited object from family or community.

Week 8

3/18: Exhibiting History/Sites of Heritage

Introduction to HSS EXPO Counter-Mapping Project

Required Readings:

Dubin, Steven C. 1999. “A Matter of Perspective: Revisionist History and The West as America.” In Displays of Power: Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to Sensation. New York, NY: New York University Press. pp. 152-187. (36 pages) Click here to view with password.

Visit: Internet Archive-create free account to borrow book-or sign in through google. View:

The West as America: Reinterpreting images of the frontier, 1820-1920. (1991). Washington : Published for the National Museum of American Art by the Smithsonian Institution Press. https://archive.org/details/westasamericarei0000unse/page/4/mode/2up

For HSS Expo-read Blog Interview:

Duperron, B. (2024, March 5). Reconciling Medieval Studies: A Showcase of Dr. Tarren Andrews, Sarah-Nelle Jackson, and Sarah LaVoy-Brunette [Academic]. OpenThink. https://blogs.dal.ca/openthink/reconciling-medieval-studies-a-showcase-of-dr-tarren-andrews-sarah-nelle-jackson-and-sarah-lavoy-brunette/ [Open website].

Takeaways:What is revisionist history?Can it be dangerous or destructive?Or can it provide a counter-history?

Activities: Part 1 of Zine Project due

Introduction to HSS EXPO Counter-Mapping Project

Explore Counter-mapping:

Brown, G. (2023, October 12). Counter-Mapping. ArcGIS StoryMaps. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/94275411178445db9cd601c2a2c348c7 [Open Resource]

3/20: Exhibiting History/Sites of Heritage, cont.

Required Readings:

Gable, Eric and Richard Handler. October 1993. “Colonist Anthropology at Colonial Williamsburg.” Museum Anthropology. 17(3): 26-31. (5 pages) http://onlinelibrary-wiley-com/doi/abs/10.1525/mua.1993.17.3.26. Online in BC Library

Takeaways: How can display, exhibition, and interpretation support colonial perspectives?Are there ways to counter this? Essentially “decolonialize.”

Activities: Field Trip to Lefferts House
Reparations

Week 9

3/25: The Scramble for Africa

Required Readings:

Internet Archive Catalog of the exhibit Into the Heart of Africa.
Cannizzo, Jeanne (1989). “Into the Heart of Africa”: Items related to the exhibition held at the Royal Ontario Museum, November 16, 1989 to August 6, 1990. Royal Ontario Museum. (10 pages) https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/intoheartofafric00roya/intoheartofafric00roya.pdf [Available at Internet Archive: Borrow with free account]
Cannizzo, Jeanne(1991). Exhibiting Cultures: “Into the Heart of Africa.” Visual Anthropology Review, 7(1), 150–160. (10 pages) https://doi.org/10.1525/var.1991.7.1.150 [Open Journal]
Takeaways: What was the original goal of the 1989 exhibit Into the Heart of Africa? What was the critique to the exhibit? What was your reaction to the exhibit?

Activities: In Groups, formulate a review of the exhibit for blog post

3/27: Guest Lecturer

Required Readings:

Thompson, Nicole. 2016. Royal Ontario Museum apologizes for 1989 ‘Into the Heart of Africa’ exhibit. In Global News. November 10, 2016. https://globalnews.ca/news/3058929/royal-ontario-museum-apologizes-for-1989-into-the-heart-of-africa-exhibit/ [Open magazine]

Takeaways:What was the public’s reaction to the exhibit? Why did it take until 2016 for the museum to apologize?

Activities: N/A

Week 10

4/1: The After-effects

Required Readings:

Martin, Fleur. 2023. Silent heritage: Investigating Ruxton’s Nigeria collection at the Horniman Museum and Gardens. Itinerario 47, (2) (08): 257-277, (20 pages) https://brooklyn.ezproxy.cuny.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/silent-heritage-investigating-ruxtons-nigeria/docview/2864839156/se-2. [Online in BC Library]

Takeaways: What is Silent Heritage? What was the Scramble for Africa? What are some of the after-effects? Are they still present today?

Activities: Knight, Bryan’s Tell a Friend podcast on YouTube-

Bryan Knight. (2020, November 22). The Brutish Museums (with Prof. Dan Hicks). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHaBUMvjves [Open Video]

4/3: The After-effects, cont.

Required Readings:

Hicks, Dan.  2020. “Preface and Chapter 2-A Theory of Taking.” In The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence, and Cultural Restitution. London: Pluto Press. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/brooklyn-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6371331. [Online in BC Library]
Akpang, Clement. 2024. “Beyond the Neo-Imperial Politicizing of Object Repatriation: Restitution and the Quest of Decolonization.” In artjournalOPEN. November 22, 2024. https://artjournal.collegeart.org/?p=19111 [Open Journal]

Takeaways:What is reflexivity?How does Hicks use this to examine the institution he works in?Activities:In Groups, discuss Hicks’s points from podcast and readings.

Week 11

4/8: People on Display

Required Readings:

Fusco, Coco. The Year of the White Bear and Two Undiscovered Amerindians Visit the West 1992-1994. https://www.cocofusco.com/two-undiscovered-amerindians . (Personal website)
Robles-Moreno, Leticia. 2018. “Please, Don’t Discover Me!” On The Year of the White Bear. Walker Art Center. https://walkerart.org/magazine/guillermo-gomez-pena-and-coco-fuscos-the-year-of-the-white-bear. [Open Website]
Sanicharan, Rachelle. 2022. “Analysis of Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez Peña’s ‘The Couple in the Cage: A Guatinaui Odyssey.” Caribbean Quilt, vol. 6, no. 1, 2022, pp. 43–46, https://doi.org/10.33137/cq.v6i1.36921. (3 pages) [Open Journal]

Takeaways:What was Fusco and Gómez-Peña’s goal with their performance art?How was it received by the public?What was the critiques of it?Activities: The Couple in the Cage.  1993. [Video/DVD] Third World Newsreel. Retrieved from https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/the-couple-in-the-cage. [Online in BC Library] Discuss video.

4/10: People on Display, cont.

Required Readings:

Qureshi, Sadiah. 2004. “Displaying Sara Baartman, the ‘Hottentot Venus’.” History of Science 42:233-257. (24 pages) Link here to view with password.
The Return of Sara Baartman. (2003). [Video/DVD] Icarus Films. Retrieved from https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/the-return-of-sara-baartman. (51 minutes) [Online in BC Library]
Visit: UNESCO site: Saartjie Baartman Memorial https://www.cipdh.gob.ar/memorias-situadas/en/lugar-de-memoria/memorial-saartjie-baartman/ [Open Website]

Takeaways:What is the history of Sarah Baartman?Why did it take so long for her to be returned to South Africa?

Activities: Guest Marie Cascione

Week 12

4/15-4/17: Spring Break

Week 13

4/22: Witness to Witnessing-Exhibiting Difficult History

Required Readings:

Lehrer, Erica and Cynthia E. Milton. 2012. “Witnesses to Witnessing.” In Curating Difficult Knowledge: Violent Pasts in Public Places, editors Erica Lehrer and Monica Patterson. Palgrave, London, pp. 1-22. (22 pages) https://link-springer-com.brooklyn.ezproxy.cuny.edu/chapter/10.1057/9780230319554_1 [Online in BC Library]
Ruffins, Faith Davis. 2006. “Revisiting the Old Plantation: Reparations, Reconciliation, and Museumizing American Slavery.” In Museums Frictions: Public Cultures/Global Transformations, edited by Ivan Karp, Corinne A. Kratz, Lynn Szwaja and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, 394-434. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Link here to view with password. (40 pages)
Willis, Deb. Personal Website: https://debwillisphoto.com/home.html.  2023 BC Franklin Day Speaker: https://www.brooklyn.edu/bc-news/deborah-willis-to-serve-as-brooklyn-colleges-franklin-day-speaker/ [Open website]

Takeaways:Is it important to curate difficult or violent history?Why? Or Why not?How can you curate them respectfully?

Activities:Visit Deb Willis’ Exhibit at BC Gallery

Exhibit Review 2 Due

4/24: HSS Expo run-through

Required Readings:N/A

Takeaways:N/A

Activities:N/A

Week 14

4/29: HSS Expo

Required Readings:Class takes place during common hours

Takeaways:N/A

Activities:N/A

5/1: Restitution of Cultural Property

Required Readings:

Sandra L. López Varela . 2020. “Museums and the Restitution of Cultural Property.” In Anthropology News April 28, 2020. https://www.anthropology-news.org/articles/museums-and-the-restitution-of-cultural-property/ [Open Magazine]

Takeaways:What is restitution?How has international law helped/hindered the repatriation of art objects looted/stolen during WWII?

Activities:The Monument Men documentary-You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj9UxHRyOjs (44.28 minutes) [Open Video]

Week 15

5/6: Global Perspectives on Restitution

Required Readings:

Gaudenzi, Bianca, and Astrid Swenson. 2017. “Looted Art and Restitution in the Twentieth Century – Towards a Global Perspective.” Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 52, no. 3, 2017, pp. 491–518, https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009417692409. (27 pages) [Open article]

Takeaways:What was the objective of the Monuments Men? Did they succeed? What are some critiques?

Activities: Discuss the film and the article

5/8: Global Perspectives on Restitution, cont.

Required Readings:

Kim, C. 2017. Colonial Plunder and the Failure of Restitution in Postwar Korea. Journal of Contemporary History, 52(3), 607-624. https://doi-org.brooklyn.ezproxy.cuny.edu/10.1177/0022009417692410. (17 pages) [Online in BC Library]

Takeaways:How did the Monuments Men fail Koreans?Why do you think we rarely hear about the restitution of art from non-European countries?

Activities: Explore the Lost Art Database: https://www.lostart.de/de/start. [Open Website]

Week 16

5/13: Museums as Sites of Conscience

Required Readings:

Abram, Ruth J. 2007. “Kitchen Conversations: Democracy in Action at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.” The Public Historian 29(1):59-76. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/tph.2007.29.1.59 . (17 pages) [Online in BC Library]
Sevcenko, L. and Maggie Russell-Ciardi. 2009. “Foreword” to “Sites of Conscience: Opening Historic Sites for Civic Dialogue.” The Public Historian 30(1):9-15. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/tph.2008.30.1.9. (6 pages) [Online in BC Library]

Takeaways:What is a museum’s role in creating a space for social justice?How can exhibition play a role  in social justice causes?Activities: Explore the Sites of Conscience webpage: http://www.sitesofconscience.org/en/ [Open Website]
Explore: Museum of Women’s Resistance https://www.museumofwomensresistance.org/ [Open Website]

5/15: Last Class-Sharing of Zines

Required Readings:N/A

Takeaways:N/A

Activities:Create Zine Exhibit in Anthropology Lounge during class. time-bring your Zines!Final versions are due date of final-May 20th at midnight on BB